1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to needles and in particular to a leather lacing needle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The type of needle work concerned herein is the lacing of articles such as wallets or purses with strips of leather or leather-like material. The strips of leather may be approximately 1/8 inch wide and approximately 1/32 inch thick. Holes are normally prepunched into the leather article. The lacing is attached to a needle which serves as a guide for the lacing.
Special purpose needles are employed to avoid having a double-back portion of lacing. Conventional household needles with transverse eyes utilize double thicknesses or a double-back portion with no difficulty because of the small diameter of the thread. However, doubling-back of a portion of leather lacing would require undesirably large holes.
One type of lacing needle utilizes an internally threaded socket in the end. The lacing is sharpened to a point and screwed into the threaded socket. The disadvantage of this type of needle is that if the lacing breaks inside the threaded socket, it is difficult to remove.
Another type of lacing needle utilizes a split end. The ends are flexible and have prongs inside them. To thread this needle, the lacing is aligned with the length of the needle and inserted into the spread apart ends. The ends are then pressed or hammered together to drive the prongs into the lacing. A disadvantage of this type of needle is that the ends tend to become sprung, and the prongs bend as well.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,987,839 discloses a needle for general household use that is comprised of two wires soldered or welded at each end. The wires are twisted 3/4 of a turn to increase the bias between them. The needle is threaded between the wires by spreading the wires apart and untwisting them. While this needle may be suitable for general household use, it is not satisfactory for lacing because of the twist. It is necessary in leather lacing that the strips of lacing remain untwisted. Such a needle would make it difficult to avoid twisting since the needle would twist as it passes through the hole.